Christian nationalism is a political ideology rather than a theological position. At its core, it is the belief that America is superior to all other nations, that God has uniquely blessed America above all other nations, and that America should be recognized as a Christian nation.
Christian nationalism has taken various forms in American history, beginning with the Puritans’ belief in the 17th Century in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that they built a shining city on a hill. This developed into the 19th century.th Century, Lost Cause theology in the Southern states after the Civil War, the white man’s burden in the Christianization of the non-white peoples of the world at the beginning of the 20th century.th Century, the optimism of mainstream Christians that the 20th The 19th century was to be an age of progress that would go down in history as the “Christian Century,” and the political repression and persecution of left-wing Americans during the “Red Scare” of the 1950s.
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The form that Christian nationalism has taken today is a mixture of Christian fundamentalism, cultural conservatism, and white supremacy. It is a cult within Christianity. Christianity is a big tent, and most Christians reject the theological foundations of Christian nationalism. It insists that God is almighty, a God of providence who directs and guides all events. We heard this from several speakers at the Republican National Convention last month. It fails to address the central question of theodicy, the same question Job asked 2,500 years ago: How could an all-powerful God allow bad things to happen to good people? How could God spare the life of Donald Trump from an assassin’s bullet but not that of Corey Comperatore? When the same questions were asked after the Holocaust, many Christians and Jews concluded that God shares the grief of the victims and stands in solidarity with them.
Christian nationalists frighten many Christians and non-Christians alike because they insist that God is on their side. They believe they have succeeded ancient Israel as God’s chosen people. They advocate a holy war to seize political power and impose their particular conception of God’s will in the United States. Their enemies are God’s enemies. Just as Yankees were the enemy in Lost Cause theology and communist sympathizers were the enemy in the Red Scare, leftists, atheists, and colored immigrants are viewed by Christian nationalists as God’s enemies.
Holy War has been rejected as heretical by the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestants since the Crusades in the Middle Ages. Christian nationalism should also be rejected as heretical. It promotes an idolatrous view that the United States is superior to all other nations. It limits religious freedom to those who believe in Christian nationalism. It rejects multiculturalism, the belief that America is stronger through the integration of different perspectives and cultures, and instead advocates the monoculture of white fundamentalist nationalists.
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There are many images of God in the Bible and in contemporary theology. Whose image of God is taught in public schools: that of the fundamentalists? That scares me to death. I don’t worship their God.
Separation of church and state is good for the church and good for the state. It allows all people in America to embrace the religious tradition of their choice or to reject any religious tradition. Christian nationalists would impose their narrow hierarchical view of God and society on the rest of us. We should respect that people can be good without God or with a different concept of God. That is a vision of God and America worth celebrating.
Reverend Don Heath is pastor of Disciples Christian Church in Edmond.
